Homemade Energy Bars | How To

While out on long rides, I am one who likes to eat an energy bar or two and also like it to taste good. There are a few energy bars out there that squelch the hunger and taste good but at about $1.50 each, I wanted to see what I could make and save some money in doing so. There was a great post on Fezzari bikes website that got me motivated, this is my rendition of it.

Shopping List:

1 1/4 Cups of puffed rice cereal (Rice Krispies)

1 Cup of uncooked Oatmeal – I used the five minute kind

1 (36g) serving of Chocolate Whey Protein powder shake mix

1/4 Cup of Raisins

1/4 Cup of Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips

1/4 Cup of Lightly Salted Peanuts

1/3 Cup of Maple Syrup – try to use one without High Fructose Corn Syrup

1/2 Cup of Peanut Butter

1 Teaspoon of Vanilla Extract

1/2 Teaspoon of Ground Cinnimon

Can of cooking spray – (PAM)

Wax Paper

Plastic Wrap – (Saran Wrap)

Resealable sandwich bags

Directions:

In a large mixing bowl, combine Rice Cereal, Oatmeal, Whey Protein powder, Raisins, Chocolate Chips, Peanuts and Cinnimon. Stir a few times to ensure everything is mixed well.

In a sauce pan at medium-low heat, mix the Peanut Butter and Syrup until it combines and is slightly runny, not too hot. Remove from heat and add the Vanilla extract.

Pour the warm Peanut Butter/Maple Syrup/Vanilla extract mixture into the large bowl with your other ingredients. Mix well to ensure there are no dry spots.

Spray cooking sheet or a 9″ x 9″ Pyrex Dish with cooking spray and pour your mixture into the dish.

Using Wax paper push the mixture down into the dish to make sure there are no air pockets and it is formed into the dish.

Remove Wax paper and cover dish with Plastic Wrap and set into refrigerator for a few hours or overnight.

Take a pizza cutter and cut your energy bars into eight bars and place into a sandwich bag.

Nutritional Guesstimation Facts:

While we aren’t scientist or food experts here at Talking Treads, you can see what you are using to make these bars. So based on the supplied nutritional facts on the packaging of each of the ingredients and with a little bit of math, we come up with, approximately, Calories 291, Carbs 32g, Protein 10g, Sodium 148mg and Sugars 16g. Depending on the ingredients you purchase, cost for each bar would be around $0.25. Play around with your own mixture and let us know what you try!